Exxon Oil Spill Raises Questions For Duden, Dnr

The Florida Department of Natural Resources, which revised its oil spill recovery plan in March, is going back to the drawing board.

So said DNR Assistant Director Don Duden, who walked the oil-splattered, cobblestone island beaches in Prince William Sound last week.

``The sheer magnitude of this thing is overwhelming,`` he said before returning to South Florida. ``The massiveness requires a whole different approach.``

Florida has never seen a spill the likes of Alaska`s Exxon Valdez, the worst in North American history. More than 10 million gallons of North Slope crude were spewed when the 987-foot supertanker ran aground on March 24.

``It`s a world class oil spill,`` Duden said. ``And having seen one, now I`m not sure in Florida we`ve got what we need to respond. That`s why I`m going to recommend we check our plans again.

``We went to Alaska because we felt we needed to get where the action is. We want to be sure we are on the cutting edge of technology, as well as responsiveness. If a spill like this was to occur off Florida, we wouldn`t want to find ourselves having been lulled to sleep.``

Florida environmental officials have little experience when it comes to containing or removing massive discharges of oil. The state`s only major marine spill in recent years occurred on Feb. 27, 1987, when a Liberian freighter ran aground and dumped 300,000 gallons in the Atlantic Ocean off Jacksonville. If that sounds like a lot -- and it is -- consider the Exxon Valdez spill was more than 30 times larger.

``We had 20 or 30 in our meetings after the Jacksonville spill and we got the beaches cleaned in two weeks,`` Duden said. ``But in Prince William Sound, Exxon is talking about hiring 4,000 employees for a project they say is going to take four months.

``They anticipate 360 miles of cobbled beach will need high-intensive cleaning. They are going to have to go a foot at a time. To me, it would be surprising for them to be done by August.``

The environmental impact of a major spill off the Florida coast -- and South Florida in particular -- is of concern to Duden. Nine oil companies have bought the leasing rights to drill on 73 sites off South Florida`s coasts and could start as early as October barring Congressional intervention.

``I hope we won`t have drilling off South Florida any time soon, but I`m afraid it will happen someday,`` Duden said. ``I`m hoping they will have a lot of technology that`s a whole lot safer by the time they start drilling there.

``It scares us, because we`ve seen what can happen.``

Offshore oil exploration would increase tanker traffic off the Florida coasts, but a major accident could happen any time, with or without drilling. Large freighters already visit the state`s 11 major ports, the busiest of which are Port Everglades, Jacksonville and Tampa.

Because of that frightening possibility, Duden on Friday recommended to Gov. Martinez that the state take measures to prevent the bureaucratic mismanagement that occurred in the hours immediately after the Exxon Valdez plowed into a well-marked reef.

Confusion reigned between the consortium of oil companies supposed to be the first line of defense in a spill and federal and state agencies. Officials from Exxon and the Coast Guard engaged in a public feud. And nobody paid attention to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, an agency that had previously repeatedly questioned the oil industry`s ability to respond.

To its horror, Alaska`s top environmental agency discovered it was right. The equipment and manpower necessary for containing and recovering the crude weren`t available until the spill was beyond control. And a lack of coordination contributed to one of the nation`s greatest environmental tragedies.

``Strong leadership and interagency communication will be at the forefront of our plan,`` Duden said. ``It appears the people in Valdez are getting their act together now and that they are ready to move. But I`d love for us to be in that position on Day One, not three weeks later.``